In-Box Review

The Kit

For a diorama builder backdrops and center pieces are key to a project. This kit – CD 8022 – European Cornerstone Two Story Building is just that: a center piece or backdrop. It’s a ubiquitous design that will support a vast array of settings and time periods. It’s a very versatile piece. Custom Dioramics had Dave Pomeranski design and create the patterns. He did a fine job, as did Bob Letterman with the artwork.
The box is typical CD. It is a nice sturdy cardboard with the typical sleeve that shows off the box art. Inside you will find a well packed array of parts. There are two ziplock bags holding the smaller parts and the main parts are held in place with Styrofoam peanuts and bubble wrap.
Another nice addition in this kit is a set of instructions. This is a fantastic bonus. They are simple and straight forward. One side of the sheet has written steps while the other has a diagram of the completed part with helpful pointers. This will no doubt ease the beginners building process.
Don’t get worried when you read the package and it says “1/35 scale resin kit” on the side. This is a package flaw, the kit inside is 1/48 scale.

The Parts

The parts are poured in one of my favorite resins. It’s firm and easy to work with. There are 22 parts to this kit – quite a few for a building.

Right Front Wall

Main Entrance Wall

Left Front Wall

Left End Wall

Right Two Story Wall

Right End Shed Wall

Upper Window (x2)

Lower Window (x2)

Main Door

Shed Door

Rood Supports (x2)

Roof Sections (x7)

The tallest parts, the left and right walls, are 16cm tall. With the roof sections on top of these peaks will give you a building that is about 16.25cm tall
The Main Entrance section is 6.4cm wide making for a nice size corner. The side walls are 10cm on the right and 9cm on the left. This will give it a footprint of 14cm by 17cm square.
The main parts are all from one piece molds and have a bit of cleanup on the edges. Nothing major and nothing that faults the parts. The door and window openings have a bit of flash that will be very easy to remove with just a bit of pressure with a hobby knife.
The detail pieces are a combination of one piece and two piece molds. The roofs are from one piece molds leaving the backs smooth and flat. The doors and windows are from two piece molds. This is very interesting and presents the modeler with options. CD has designed this building to be seen from 360 degrees and explains it in the instructions. They have included small details to help with the detailing of the interior. The two part molds on the doors are one detail. You get a back side of the door that has pre-made texture. You get a window that also has optional pre-made texture.
The windows are always a tricky spot for diorama builders. The decision to make them transparent or covered has it’s pit falls. Transparent windows can lead you into super-detailing the interior even on a one sided viewing project. Covering them leads to extra work and decision on how best to cover them. CD has molded on boards to cover the windows, if you choose this option. They have made them thin enough so that if you are going to remove the cover it will be easy to do. My personal opinion is that in smaller scales this becomes more of an challenge. The ‘scale affect’ has greater impact at smaller scales and opening the window has diminishing rewards at smaller scales. So, long story short, CD has helped out modelers with this backing. If nothing else it helps support the lattice work in the windows so you won’t find broken parts.
One small downfall of the detail parts is the long tile seam parts for the roof. A couple of these parts are warped a bit. There is a nice amount of ‘give’ in the resin used and I believe that the build process will be ok with a bit of strong two-part resin and a set of clamps (stay tuned for the build review).

True 1/48 or Shrinking 1/35

I have kept up with a number of discussion about the growth of the 1/48 scale product lines. One discussion I have read about is that some companies are criticized for simply taking their 1/35 scale product and shrinking it to 1/48. I took a look at this kit to see if this was the case.
I did a 1:1 to 1/48 scale conversion of my window. My window has a vertical stanchion that is 5cm wide. Doing the math, that converts to a 1mm wide stanchion. The overall height of my 1:1 window is 113cm tall which translates to 2.3cm. I have another window that is 145cm which is almost a perfect 3.02cm in scale.
The front door is large in scale, my exterior door is 85cm wide which converts to 1.67cm. This door is 1.9cm. I realize that there are a wide variety of door widths, especially when doors were built by hand. Scale wise this door is well within normal limits.
So from a measurement standpoint CD is right on the money with this building.
From a detail standpoint, they made new molds and detailed the masters in 1/48 scale. The seam lines are smaller and finer. The grain work on the roof tiles is very delicate and representative of the smaller scale.
I added two images that show a 1/48th scale Bandi figure next to a door and a doorway. This gives you a nice idea of how well the building will work with other kits in this size.

overall

This is a great piece, it’s versatile, well designed, well manufactured, and nicely detailed. I think the quality and quantity of this piece does justify the price and you won’t be disappointed.
While there is a bit of clean up on the parts, none should deter even a beginning diorama builder. I don’t see anything that would keep them from building this kit into a nice building.
If you are firmly committed to ‘your scale’ this kit will make you think twice.

I'd like to thank Custom Dioramics for this sample to review and for opening up a whole new scale for dioramas - Thanks

SUMMARY

Custom Dioramic is staying abreast of current market trends with this kit. It’s a 1/48 scale building. This would be a fantastic backdrop for a new Tamiya kit or an old reliable Bandi kit.

I modeled when I was a teenager. College, family and work stopped me for a while. Then I picked it back up after about 12 years off. My main focus is dioramas. I like the complete artistic method of story telling. Dioramas involve so many aspects of modeling and I enjoy getting involved in the ...